PA and Carl Chronicles

Uncle Carl working well with the therapists although when they visit in the afternoon and I ask him later in the day if they were there he says, "no that was yesterday."  He is now back to his preference of not shaving, groiwng that white stubble, "I'm not going anywhere."  I remind him that he does not want to go back to the "crazy house" which is what he calls the SNF.  I am just hopeful he gets back to consistent use of his walker without tumbles and stumbles and falls.

I missed a great photo op Tuesday where Carl sat in wheelchair beside "his" chair, staring at the fireplace marble and back to the entry and all activity.  Lenore, an old lady who has had her eye on him for over a year had sat in his chair!  Seeing this, I immediately knew he was ticked, that's where he sits and supervises all activities and comments about all the "old women who sit out here and sleep."  He may be the oldest one there, but he thinks they are old.  Back to the scene where I asked him "Why are you sitting there like that, how about I move you over here?"  His strong clear reply, "No thank you.  I am comfortable right here!" A big improvement from his weak voice at the SNF.   Lenore sits there grinning.  Lisa, one of his favorite aides came along and noticed and said "Darn, there's Lenore.  She does that to get his attention."  They moved Lenore and got Carl into his catbird seat and all was well!  I really should have snapped that photo though, priceless.  Evidently Lenore did not go near the chair while Carl was in the hospital and SNF.  And he will not even acknowledge her!  My Uncle, still a lady killer at 92!  :)

Yesterday we put out 14 bags more of trash from the house, so much accumulation of  stuff, never throwing anything away even Styrofoam trays!  Jerry continues to scavenge the man cave tools.  I found a gorgeous brocade satin short jacket from Aunt Marge, that I am bringing home,  It is tiny and more like a shrug, but I could not bear to toss it, the fabric is exquisite.  I have no idea what to do with it, perhaps a pillow, something altered for Blondie, one of the traveling bears to wear?  Who knows, it is too tiny for me, but I so loved the fabric that into the closet it goes.  Another acquisition of  two matching nightstand type lamps of heavy clear cut glass.  Jerry will have to fix the plugs and  bulb holders and we will have to acquire shades but I could not resist these.  I'll donate the one  I bought at Target to Goodwill and replace with these in one guest bedroom.  Jerry has lots more "equipment miscellany" and  antique and small tools he's taking home and once again I will not be able to bring back all the painting supplies I want.  However we will bring two of the old 1920 at least chairs; these two have been recovered and next trip I want two that have not and still sport the black leather seats.  I have a photo of my mom at about 2 years old sitting in one of these chairs, which Carl had stashed in his loft.  We would only get pennies for them at a sale, so since I know they are old and likely belonged to my grandparents, home they go with us.

I found more old black and white   photos including several of myself as a young girl sporting pipe curls, laughing and tormenting a dog. Carl was the photographer  of the family and Jerry found an old Brownie camera still looking in perfect condition, which is also going home.  We are going to have to clean out somethings from our home before we become the accumulators of everyone else's treasures!  I  found an old, tattered  paper box of Marge's photoswith several from her family that Lowell, nephew will appreciate.  Last trip I  found some photo painted china plates of his great grandmother of whom he had never seen a photo.  I am happy to find homes for these photos.  Yesterday I found a couple others from 1920 of Marge's family and I hope Lowell can identify them.  His brother is in his 80's had has Alzheimer's but still knows who the photos are.  I surely enjoy all my photos and cannot wait to return home and scan and share on Sepia Saturday. 

I have learned something about Aunt Marge this trip; she was really studying dressmaking and sewing a skill on which she was never nearly as proficient as my grandma or Aunt Jinx who were masters.  But I have found correspondence courses and lots of books and patterns which Marge accumulated and studied.  Still I laugh when I find clothing she altered with uneven hems and gaps of stitches. Refer to my blog story of Margie Sway!    Jinx, I've told  before on this blog, would take Marge's things and "fix them."  I can imagine how determined Marge was to match the perfection of her sister in law.  Maybe that's why Marge related more to my mother, who was not the least interested in sewing, but who could get along.   I expect too that Carl would throw a barb her way now and then about  wanting his mother or sister to sew something that needed mending!  Who knew what Marge was up to, awaiting to surprise them with a top skill!  Never happened. 

Yesterday one of the firemen came by the house when we were working.  He said 30 years ago Uncle Carl had installed him as a member and he often stopped and talked with "Tux."  Matt had shared  the news at their Tuesday evening meeting so now the word is out around and they will stop and visit him.  This man works at the municipal water company and had tears in his eyes as he spoke about conversations with "Tux" and how he is one of a kind, the WWII generation dying off.  I am so thankful for that contact.

Next trip we will order a dumpster.  I really wanted to have the house cleared and sold off, but not right timing.  We do use the washer and dryer while here too.  And I have been doing Carl's laundry and pressing his shirts.  As departure approaches, I feel wistful, wishing I lived closer so I could pop in and out to see him and do laundry.  One complaint of Logan House is the disarray they have of laundry--so many things missing, a jacket a set of new flannel sheets, etc.  I mark all Carl's things carefully but they just are absolutely careless and further wash everything together, light, white, dark colors, an anathema to me, the queen of laundry sorting into tiny loads if necessary.  Well nothing I can do, other than as I have, it's in the hands of the One who handles it all His way in His time.

Jerry has plans to stop in Detroit at General RV to look at a Discovery.  I really do not want to, but am humoring him.  No way are we buying this trip and after meeting Elliott in Decatur at the Fleetwood RVcomplimentary lot, I feel we should keep what we have.I do not want a new one with problems ad nauseum.   Maybe next year at the Fleetwood Rally. 

Temperatures falling around the area.  Lots of gorgeous colors still on the trees although the winds and rain have shed leaves, there is still plenty of color around.  Another day of activities ahead.

Margie Sway

I wonder how we adapt traits that make us become like those who are not DNA relations? And just what traits are genetic? For a long time I've wondered about what's genetic and what's environmental? I also wonder about how much environmental is needed to be influential?

Aunt Marge in 1941,  before marriage

Today I thought about my Aunt Marge; she was my aunt because she married Uncle Carl, Mom's brother. Aunt Marge died in 1997 and Uncle Carl is still going strong living on his own in Lower Burrel, PA at the age of 89. I sure wish he would consider hiring help in mowing his lawn, etc. but that's another story of the stubborn Ostrowski Polish lineage. Well that was another thing, Aunt Marge was a "Slovak" and the Polish let her know that too. The comment, "what can you expect from a Slovak?" was said in a teasing manner but seriously too.

Aunt Marge was a beautician. She had her shop in their home for as long as I remember. She put hair up in pin curls for many older ladies many years after it went out of fashion to do so. She also liked to travel while Uncle Carl confined his travels to annual reunions with his WWII Army buddies and many fishing and hunting trips with the guys. He said he'd seen enough of Europe during the war to last him for several lifetimes. So Aunt Marge traveled with others or took tours on her own to Europe and all over. Aunt Marge had a favorite saying, "Carl if you can't speak and say something nice to me just don't say anything at all." And with that she'd vacate the room or area, off smiling about her way. They never had any children.

I thought of Aunt Marge when I put on an old sweatshirt jacket today that I've had for years. It's way too big but comfortable. I admired the floral and faded sage green pattern and the corduroy collar when I picked it up at some garage sale in CA for probably $1 years ago. I wore it to aerobic classes in CA because it reached to my knees and gave cover over the leotard and tights till I got into class. I've not lived in CA for 3 years and I must have given up aerobics at least 10 years prior to that. I toss this history of this sweatshirt jacket in so you get the drift of my parsimonious side. Some things I just keep. Well last year I looked at it hanging in the closet abandoned for years, and being in one of my sewing moods said, "I'll shorten it and then I can wear it with jeans and it won't look so bad." Never mind that the shoulders hang 3 inches below my shoulders and the cuffs fall far below my hands, I push those up. It's comfortable. So I did indeed cut it down to jacket size length. Aunt Marge would have been proud.

She was short and often her clothes were too long. In my family Aunt Jinx, Mom's & Carl's sister, is a top notch seamstress who for a time, when she was laid off from Pittsburgh Plate Glass worked as a seamstress at a blouse factory. By the way she too is still hanging in there at age 86 and lives in her own home, a widow in Natrona Hts., PA.

Well Aunt Marge used to cut down her skirts and even her shirts, making them shorter to fit her. All this she would do spontaneously as one day she'd put the clothing on and it suddenly occurred to her that it was too long. But while Aunt Marge might have been great with hair, sewing was not her forte. She could neither cut nor stitch a straight line. But it didn't bother her much, she was always proud of her alterations. It came to be known as the Margie sway!

Jinx would take one look at Marge's product and say, "Marge take that off and give it to me to take home and fix." Aunt Marge would be astonished,"Fix it? I just did. See how good it fits." It was a routine for I Love Lucy. Usually these discussions ended by Jinx taking the altered article home with her to sew it straight and fix it right. Jinx too has the stubborn Ostroski lineage which I really must write about someday on this blog. Though they were friends, the Pollack always won over the Slovak.

A couple years ago visiting in PA I put on a pair of slacks that were too long which I'd shortened. Jinx was horrified. She immediately said, "Patty take those off and let me hem them." I laughed and said, "Oh I already did..see they fit." Jinx nearly became apoplectic and continued--"I don't know how you can be like Aunt Marge wearing something that crooked......" And she would straighten my hems.

So today after heading outside with my jacket I caught my reflection in the car window. Wow! This jacket hem is not straight at all! I had to laugh out loud--Aunt Marge's spirit attacks again. Here in retirement in MN , I sew a lot more and know way better. I can sew and cut straight lines too! But here's my jacket with a Margie sway to it. And I've worn it for over a year this way--well it's just for kicking around. Maybe this will start a new cut to clothing in the fashion line--I just might have a new design. And I would call it the "Margie sway", see the directions now, --cut two lengths to the Margie sway, hem with 2 to 3 inches of the Margie sway!

So while there was no genetic link to Aunt Marge and I did not spend lots of time with her, how did I pick up this trait? Or is it that as a people we are all really a lot more alike than we can imagine?